Yulong Guo, 2024

If you're interested in purchasing, please write to me at evan@guitarcollection.com

Happy new year everyone! I'm back from a lot of travels visiting family, both in Florida and in China, but of course, I had to find myself a great guitar along the way.

Flying back with me, is a brand new guitar from the end of 2024 from perhaps China’s most notable luthier - Yulong Guo. And, its his top model: a Cedar doubletop “Philharmonic” model.

This guitar is a force to be reckoned with. It is a complete, concert worthy guitar that smashes instruments in it’s price category. Please see the video to know what I mean.

Yulong Guo has been building great instruments for many years, and while I’ve owned other models of his (mostly student models) and have even made videos on my “Evan Taucher” channel of them, I hadn’t yet come across one of these top, Philharmonic models, so I was very excited to check this one out.

I was also delighted to make contact with Mr. Yulong Guo, as I could tell from our first (translated) conversation that he was very receptive and curious of feedback, and also took great pride in his work.

My mission is to keep these text descriptions rather brief this year, as I think you’ll get more out of my videos than in my writing, but this guitar is a powerhouse of sustain, evenness, and clarity. On top of that, it’s so easy to play, with my “perfect” spec’d C shaped, thin neck.

Yulong tells me that guitar is loosely based on Gernot Wagner’s doubletop design, and I notice other inspirations such as the Romanillos inspired Rosette, and some personal touches as well, like the very unique and striking headstock.

I’m happy to say I’ll be receiving more instruments from Yulong Guo as his distributor in the US, but here’s a chance to snag an amazing instrument at a very affordable price.

Note: One small thing I have to mention in order to not worry anyone- there is a small (~1 inch) line/crack in the wood on the back of the neck that was repaired before the guitar was ever built or finished. Yulong tells me that it was there before building and that it is secure, and only aesethic. You cannot feel it either, as its underneath the finish. I’ve included a photo for full disclosure.

Specs:

Cedar Doubletop (nomex in between)

Indian rosewood back and sides

Raised fingerboard

Armrest

650mm scale

51mm nut width

Includes Singing Dragon white hardshell case and strap